Monday, August 24, 2015

DIY Foam Lacing Cards

When Xav was younger, I used to print, laminate, cut out pictures and got holes punched along the edge of the picture before giving him a string to lace them into the holes to train his fine motor skills.

Now I made a new set as part Vera's busy bags using foams as I feel that they are lighter and it is relatively "safer" as they are soft and probability of cutting the hands of the little one is much lower.

No idea what to cut ? In fact, anything from shapes, numbers, letters, animals etc can be drawn onto the foam and cut it out. As for quality of different brands of foams, I have bought and tried out three brands in the market, let me share with you my review.

I started my first pack of foam using (KCK Brand). Note that this is NOT a sponsored post but I would highly recommend KCK foams from Krafers' Paradise. I love the quality, the thickness (not flimsy), not torn easily especially when you need longer lasting materials for the little ones to play with and the bright colours !

Popular (POPbasic ? I forgot the name but I purchased a pack before) The thickness of the foam is not as thick if you want to compare with KCK. After going through the die cutting machine, the foam took a longer time to resume to it's initial thickness and some do not even rise back. It tears much easily too. Colours are more on the basic colours and in terms of "smoothness", I will still go for KCK.

Spotlight foams are slightly better than POP Brand but KCK is still the best quality to go for. If you know of any brands better than KCK , do let me know too !

I punched the holes using Big bite. But you can use other punchers as long as you get the holes.

Thread VS strings from paper bags' handle. Some paper bags opened up by the sides due to wear and tear. For those with string handles with plastic ends similar to those like shoe laces. I did not completely discard the whole bag away. I removed them and use them to lace the form as I find that it is easier to hold a firm end to lace. But please do supervise your child while using as some of the ends sticking out can be a little sharp. I will find time to stick them to the string.

On the other hand, I bought some elastic string-like bands from Made With Love, a local scrapbooking store or Spotlight at Plaza Singapura. (Refer to the silver thread near to the lion below.)

Not only you can get some moment of peace when they are keeping their fingers busy, they get to train their fine motor skills by threading the threads in.

Teach them shapes, colours, animals and insects too ! Are you currently working on any kits that help to tune the fine motor skills ? Do share them with me !